The Start of the Blog

This past year has been a rough one, financially. But I still love to eat. My only option? Get creative with what I find on sale... or what I raid out of my parents kitchen (yes, I moved back home after living on my own!). I'm finding that being a student (for years) really provides you with the opportunity to swallow your pride and do what you must to get by.

Anyway, I digress. The issue at hand - food. Since I was a little kid, I was obsessed with food. At first, just with eating. Later, with cooking. When my parents would leave me alone at home, the first thing I would do was peak out the kitchen to make sure the car had left, then run to the kitchen. I'd experiment with anything I could get my hands on. Uncooked rice, HP Sauce and eggs? Sure. Cook sugar in the microwave? Sure, let's see what happens! (Side note - It turns to rock candy and is impossible to clean off of plates).

As I grew older, I started to obsessively read cooking books and magazines. Once a year, the municipality where I live has a spring clean-up week. You can throw out anything! And it's a paradise for a young kid - piles of peoples trash - full of interesting things... once I brought home a smelly old deer skull with antlers. Anyway, one year, I found a box full of old Bon Appetit, Gourmet and Martha Stewart Living magazines. With my heart in my throat I hurried home to tell my mom. "Please don't let someone take them in the meantime." I nervously thought to myself. We got in the mini-van and went, and lo and behold, the box was still there. I looked at those magazines for years, getting inspiration, imagining cooking all the delicious dishes I could make.

I started to experiment - legitimately - actually combining foods you'd want to eat. Sometimes I failed (rock hard bread loaves, chocolate cake with too many ingredient substitutions), but as time wore on, I actually improved. I began cooking for my family quite regularly. And my friends at school would check out my lunches every day with interest.

Flash forward to this year - I'm still obsessed with cooking and eating. And after having the chance to run a series of cooking workshops in Montreal, I realized my true strength lies in combining ingredients and making up my own recipes. I've become adventurous, bold. I know flavours before I taste them. I dream in saffron and yeast.

So, here is my blog. I'm going to write about cooking, about eating and about food. Most importantly, I'm going to eat like a king while living like a pauper. I hope you enjoy!